Lightclan Challenges
by William Quill
Summary: My Fanfics for the Lightclan forum.
1. Friends? Please!

**Challenge: Friends? Please!**

 ** _Duckfeather- Brown-and-white speckled with green eyes_**

 ** _Sagefrost- Light grey with dark green eyes_**

 _ **One of the cats want to become a kittypet/loner/rogue**  
_

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather under the Obelisk for a clan meeting."

A few grumbles of bitterness responded the call. Duckfeather remained silent, though she knew why everyone was less than pleased. The prey income had decreased significantly over the last moons, and all but the kits were suffering accordingly. The speckled she-cat had an idea of what this meeting may be about. The deputy was loose lipped about important details like that.

"Moorclan, in the last three moons, our prey have become fewer and far between." The leader continued. "One of our warriors, Sagefrost, found a twoleg den not too far from here. Abandoned, for now, though who knows when or if it will be refilled? This is our golden opportunity to raid the den for any forgotten food."

"Have we become so weak that we rely on the scraps of twolegs?" One warrior demanded. "The other clans shall ridicule us, or worse!"

"They know the warrior's code as much as we do." The leader responded slowly, almost fatigued. "Nothing that they can steal would be worth defending. Preyless land is as useful as a thorn in your paw."

"No cat should give up land like this. Are you our leader, or animate mouse-dung?" Several more responded.

"I will send five warriors to collect as much as they can." The leader continued, ignoring the insults. "If they bring back food and information about more, I shall send five more the next day to continue collecting. Dismissed." The leader hopped down from the tall pillar of black stone, and avoided the annoyed crowds of angry cats.

Duckfeather sighed, disappointed at her leader's behavior. She wasn't against the idea of scavenging from two legs, but the leader was going about it in a horrible manner. Cutting them off from the decision about the future of the clan was for all of them to bear and affect.

"You look mad." A voice said beside her, and she jumped. Sure enough, it was Sagefrost. "I'm sorry I suggested it to the leader. I just -"

"No no no. No no. No." Duckfeather cut him off. "It's a great idea, but he could at least be a little enthusiastic about it."

"Enthusiastic about abandoning territory?"

"About getting food after moons of starvation!"

"I guess." His tail wrapped around his back leg. Duckfeather had seen it enough times to know it was his reaction to nervousness, even without asking. "Do you want to go?"

"Yes." She responded, nudging him with her shoulder. "If we don't find much food, I'll catch a mole or something to keep them happy, eh?"

"I guess." Sagefrost repeated, though his tail began swaying again. "I could go too, if you like?"

"Oh, yeah!" she whooped in delight. "Then you can prove your genius yourself! And I won't be surrounded by near-complete strangers!"

"I- yeah." he nearly repeated himself a third time, but caught himself. "I'll do that."

* * *

Sagepaw was following his mentor quietly. They were to hunt for prey, a routine expedition by now for even him. He was supposed to keep an eye out for mice, voles, or anything else. What he was really watching for was some means of escape. His mentor was constantly hovering nearby, urging him to keep on his toes, or speed up, only to then slow down himself, it was infuriating.

Just as Sagepaw knew he was going to flip out, his mentor shot away, chasing an animal. A rabbit? Sagepaw didn't care, he was free for the moment. He looked around, and caught a flicker of fur hide behind a tuft of tall grass. He froze up. _A loner?_ he thought, terrified. _A rogue? Another clan's warrior?!_ He shivered, trying to decide what to do. He could get his mentor, but be trapped again, or he could confront it himself, and die.

He decided to do both. "Hello?" he called out at the tuft of grass. "Who's there?"

"How'd you know I was there?" The grass asked.

"Your tail flicked into view." he explained.

"Darn. Hoped I could sneak up on you two. Guess not." A white-and-brown she-cat slinked out of the grass, looking disappointed. "You clan cats are good."

"We clan cats?" Sagepaw repeated, calming slightly. "So... you aren't in a clan?"

"Nope! Wish I was. I'm Quacks."

"A kittypet." Sagepaw nearly laughed. "You're no threat at all!"

"I want to be." Quacks responded. "You guys are cool fighter cats! I watch you guys from my twolegs' abode, but you guys are still really cool up close!"

Sagepaw, cool? Those two words don't belong together. He was too busy laughing to realize the message behind the comments immediately. "Wait, you want to join?"

* * *

Duckfeather shivered as they approached her old home. Faint memories came back to her, of the grand fences that guarded her play area. She passed by broken boards of wood, the white stuff on it chipped off in several places, and remembered the weird watching squares through which twolegs could watch, but cats couldn't penetrate. The shattered remains of these were no longer inhibiting access. Bit by bit, her house came into full attention in her mind. She knew where to look, where to avoid, and where she desperately wanted to go to as a kittypet.

"Well, it's a good haul." One of the bulkier cats grumbled. "Are you sure this is food though? Looks like pellets to me."

"Would you rather this to sustain us, or nothing and starve?" Duckfeather asked. "Come on, let's return." She began walking away, when she noticed Sagefrost staring out the opposite direction of the den. She doubled back to her friend, and nudged him. "You coming?"

It took a long while for him to answer her. "No. I do not believe so."

"What? Why?" she asked, startled.

"I'm... becoming a traitor. A coward. A... kittypet."

Duckfeather stepped back in shock. "But, I explained how horrible the life was here, right?" she pleaded. "Why would you-"

"I don't belong in the clan. You know how I act in the clan. You know how... dependant, I am." His face showed disappointment, sadness, and determination. Determination, an emotion not common to him. "I'd be better off a kittypet."

"Are you... sure about this?" Duckfeather asked, though she knew the answer. "You'll never see me again."

"I... guess." he said uncertainly. "No. Yes, I'm sure. Sorry, but where I stand now, I'm a waste of food. Goodbye... Quacks."

"Goodbye, Sagepaw."

* * *

"Where did Sagefrost go? What happened?"

"He was... taken by twolegs. They put him in a monster, and it ran away with him."

"Oh no. We'll have to call off the scavenging then."

"No! They left, and twolegs don't come back!" Several whispers of shock. "I... I will stand vigil. In honor of Sagefrost."

The crowd dispersed, leaving Duckfeather to sit on the Obelisk, looking out across the territory, wondering where her friend may roam now. Across the world? With Starclan? She didn't know, nor have a way to know. Regardless, she sat, silently crying her friend's leaving.


	2. Lost Hope

**Challenge: Lost Hope**

Have faith in Starclan. Surprising how fast that statement stales.

Stonepaw contemplated the ceiling of the medicine den. His mind was still fuzzy on how he got there, though the pain in his back left leg explained fairly well. The medicine cat was rushing back and forth, trying to deal with several injured cats at once. Where was his apprentice? He had one, before...

Suddenly, he remembered what had happened. The battle was long and bloody. Swampclan seemed to have endless warriors to send at them. The medicine cat was on the battlefield, trying to rescue as many cats as possible. Then he was attacked, as some fighter must have thought he was charging to battle. This cat that was healing him now was the apprentice. An untrained apprentice, the newest and youngest prophet for Canopyclan.

Stonepaw rolled into a more comfortable position. A cat wandered over, and began speaking to him. The words echoed meaninglessly in his skull. The last words he was able to disern, however. "... so until then, we can only have faith in Starclan that we'll endure the battle."

Endure? They were on the offencive, last Stonepaw knew. They had been put on defence, and they needed to endure? How badly had the battle gone? Stonepaw struggled to his feet, to the horror of the medicine cat. His words were just as meaningless as the first cat's. Ignoring the warnings, he made his way outside, one limping step at a time.

It was worse than he had thought. The battle had made it to the border of the camp, cats either marching into battle, or hiding away in dens. The dim evening light burned on Stonepaw's eyes. The battle had started in the morning. He picked up his pace, ignoring the damage he was doing to his broken leg. Other cats seemed to rush past him, but he knew that he was the one rushing past them.

The medicine cat caught up to him, and put himself in between Stonepaw and the battle. He began speaking, and since his focus was on him, Stonepaw could uderstand some of what he was being told. "What are you doing? Your leg is broken, and you're ... symptoms. You're in no condition to ... You have to get back inside before you ..."

"I'm fine." he responded, wincing at the loud yelling he was getting. "I'll protec the can."

"You can barely stand, much less fight in ... worst battle seen in our clan's ... out for blood! You can't ..."

"Out of my way rnt!" He pushed the small clanmate away from him, stumbling to the edge of the camp.

Reaching the edge of the battle, Stonepaw shouted a war cry, which was supposed to be "Canopyclan, for Starclan!" but came out as "Campycan, for Sterlan!" He charged into the battle, having total faith in Starclan that his clan would win. The bite was fatal. Stonepaw slumped, eyes draining of confused determination, neck draining of blood.

* * *

Webpaw wandered around the red, sticky ground, checking for living cats. He shuddered as he passed his mentor, a hole in his throat. He looked up at the dawning sky. The sky was turning grey, and all the stars were gone. He sighed, thinking of the things his mentor would say about that event after a fierce battle. Probably something symbolic about Starclan abbandoning them. He came up to the dead body of an apprentice, a stick tied to his back leg with cobwebs.

"Oh, Stonepaw." He choked, sitting in the gore. "I warned you. Warriors shouldn't fight injured. May Starclan forgive you..."

* * *

Stonepaw floated alone above the battle, watching the carnage unfold again and again. Canopyclan cats were being beaten back, murdered by the glorious Swampclan. Stonepaw's eyes, now white as his fur, glimmered with tears. The stars were not in the sky, nor the battlefield. They weren't anywhere. Unseeable tears poured from a believer's eyes as he saw that he was alone in this world.

Have faith in Starclan. You can't have faith in something that doesn't exist.


End file.
